Fhp Troopers In Lake Complain Of Quotas

Florida Highway Patrol officials are investigating complaints that a patrol captain based in Orlando threatened Lake County troopers with their jobs if they did not meet quotas for traffic arrests.

The investigation began after troopers in Lake County complained to state Sen. Richard Langley and state Rep. Everett Kelly that during a meeting May 13 in Lake County, Capt. Edward R. Hagler called them ''rednecks'' and ''hicks'' and said any officer who failed to meet arrest ''goals'' would be fired or transferred.

The complaints were lodged against Hagler, 49, a 25-year veteran of the patrol and traffic chief of Troop D, which covers Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Flagler and Brevard counties.

The investigation began about two weeks ago and has not been completed, FHP Inspector William Clark said Monday.

Both Kelly and Langley, along with officials of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, confirmed Monday that they had been approached by irate troopers.

Kelly and Langley said the men complained that they were being told how many arrests for drunken driving, equipment violations and moving traffic offenses they had to make each month.

Kelly and Langley said they individually told Fred Dickinson, assistant director of the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and Highway Safety, the parent agency of the FHP.

FHP officials assigned Clark to investigate the charges.

Hagler declined to comment.

Kelly, D-Tavares, said the troopers who approached him provided him with copies of documents that he found disturbing.

''From what I saw and from what I've been told, there is no doubt in my mind that these men feel like they are being handed a quota of arrests to make,'' Kelly said.

Both Kelly and Langley, R-Clermont, refused to identify the officers who complained.

FHP officials in Fruitland Park refused to release the documents, saying they are part of an internal investigation.

Sources said memos sent from the Orlando headquarters by Hagler confirm portions of Hagler's comments.

Also, Lt. Neil Duttenhaver, local commander of the Lake County troopers, wrote an extensive report ''of the problem that he intends to file as a grievance with the department,'' Clark said.

FHP officials in Fruitland Park and Tallahassee refused to release the documents because the matter is still under investigation.

One official in Tallahassee said Duttenhaver's memo is personal and actually not a part of the investigation. Duttenhaver, who has been on medical leave, could not be reached Monday.

Troopers in Volusia County experienced much the same controversy -- and a similar investigation -- when troopers in that county complained that their arrests were made to fill a quota.

FHP officials call the numbers ''goals and expectations'' and say the required number of arrests are ''averages'' an active trooper should be able to meet easily.

The process used in Fruitland Park involves a paper form that lists each trooper's activities during the current month of the preceding year, followed by an ''expectation'' of arrests for the same month of the current year.

Troopers are given the ''goal slips,'' as they are called, each month. They are graded on their results during appraisals.

Last week FHP troopers told The Orlando Sentinel they were being pressured to make more arrests for drunken driving.

That information came after prosecutors from the 5th Circuit, which covers Lake, Sumter, Marion, Hernando and Citrus counties, announced they would have to use plea bargains in some drunken driving cases because the cases being filed were too weak to sustain prosecution.